The history of developments in digging, shoveling, scooping and related long-hafted tools is long and varied. For example, as indicated in: U.S. Pat. No. D4969, Parliman, Design for Spade, 30 May 1871; U.S. Pat. No. 255,923, Bradner, Grocer's Scoop, 4 Apr. 1882; U.S. Pat. No. 628,202, Laws, Shovel, 4 Jul. 1889; U.S. Pat. No. 648,321, Westerberg, Shovel, 24 Apr. 1900; U.S. Pat. No. 841,848, Conner; Walk Cleaner, 22 Jan. 1907; U.S. Pat. No. 1,323,980, Hare, Trowel, 2 Dec. 1919; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,594,508, Sitton, Lawn Edger, 29 Apr. 1952.
Many specialized tools are known, including: lawn and garden spades, hoes, cultivators, weeders, trowels, edgers, dibblers, trenchers, crumb shovels, dustpans, scoops, pruning knives, picks, adzes, camp shovels, machetes, hatchets, tampers, axes, camp knives, draw knives, spoke shaves, shake cutters, snow/rescue shovels, auto shovels, military shovels (e.g., the Spetsnaz Military Shovel (circa 1905)), folding shovels etc.
An example of a folding shovel is the so-called Chinese Military Shovel, in which the haft and shovel blade are pivotally attached one to the other, and the hinged attachment is configured to releasably secure the haft and blade in a plurality of pre-selected angled orientations between a spade-like configuration with the blade extending from the haft in general alignment with the haft, and a folded configuration in which the blade essentially overlies the haft. With such folding shovels it is known to configure the sides of the blade so as to provide a cutting edge (e.g., serrated) and/or a chopping edge.
Tools with hafts and interchangeable heads are known, for example, in the K2™ Rescue Shovel Plus Ice Axe, a rescue shovel is interchangeable with an ice axe head.